I can’t believe how fast the time has been flying by here, and that I’m already in my second to last week! I’ve had an incredible week which included going to see Beyonce, watching the finale of Britain’s Got Talent, and enjoying the 70 degree and sunshiney weather of Manchester!
Last week, I was working at a manufacturing client. I find it really interesting here that a company’s yearend can occur anytime within 18 months after their inception. This means that there are yearends happening all year round which spreads the work out throughout the year. The client this past week was a December 31st yearend but it’s the first December 31st yearend I’ve worked on. The previous two have been March 31st yearends.
Also, one of my team members this past week has just returned to audit (or Business Services as they call it at Hurst) from a 3 month secondment in tax. At Hurst, every accountant in training in the business services department spends 3 months working in the tax department. They find that it’s really beneficial for the staff in audit to have the experience in tax especially because during the audit the audit team does the testing on sales tax (VAT).
Simon, Gemma, and I at the Beyonce Concert
On Wednesday, Simon (Hurst Marketing Director) invited Gemma (my buddy) and I to join him and a representative from the Royal Bank of Scotland to the Beyonce concert at the MEN Arena in downtown Manchester. The concert was absolutely amazing (I highly recommend going to see her if you ever get the chance!) There were two supporting acts before the show – Zarif & Shantel (she sings “Stuck with You” and the T-shirt song). Beyonce came on around 9:30 and danced and sung her heart out until 11:30! The final Manchester United game was going on in Rome during the concert as well but unfortunately United lost to Barcelona 2 – 0.
This weekend was absolutely gorgeous! It’s been sunny and in the mid 70’s without a cloud in the sky! I decided to stick around Manchester and enjoy the beautiful weather. On Saturday, I went with Gemma and her mom and sister, Danielle, to shop for Danielle’s wedding dress (she’s getting married next year)! It was such a fun “girlie” day. We enjoyed eating lunch in the sunshine and did a lot of outdoor shopping in Alderley Edge and Wilmslow (two small towns outside of Manchester). Check out the pics here! We did have a little bit of excitement as we were shopping in Alderley Edge. We saw a jewellery store owner chasing after a woman who had stolen several necklaces, bracelets, and earrings from the store. The store owner took the woman’s purse and recovered some of the stolen items before the woman took her purse back and got into her car. As she pulled out of her parking space, she ran right into the car in front of her. We took down the license plate to tell the store owner. Then as we left the jewelery store, the woman returned to apologize to the store owner. We left before anymore excitement could happen…
Saturday night was the finale of Britain’s Got Talent (which I’ve been keeping up with since I got here!) My co-worker Tamara, had a bunch of us over to her house to watch the finale (I think almost all of Britain was glued to their TVs on Saturday night 
) Despite all of the publicity surrounding Susan Boyle, she came in a close second to an excellent dance group – Diversity. Check out their performance here. Their winnings include £100,000 and the opportunity to perform in the Royal Variety Show in front of the Queen.
Sunday, I did some sightseeing of Manchester in the sunshine and tried to capture some of the beauty of the city to share with everyone! Check out the pics here. Afterwards, I met up with Gemma at a nearby Park to soak in the sun. There was a carnival going on and we decided to be adventurous and ride one of the rides. I was glad to have my feet back on the ground afterward! Check out the pics here.
This coming week my friend Victor is coming to visit! I’m excited to play tour guide around Manchester!
